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I must be losing my mind…

Lin Feng shut his phone, and the news he received stated that his city, E City, was under lockdown, with no way to leave. Truly, all that nonsense talk about some miraculous medical treatment made Lin Feng want to send the zombies after that cur who had the audacity to send that message.

If there is a cure, why hasn’t the country discovered it? Instead, it was supposedly found by some random internet user? Truly ridiculous. Those who believe in it are equally absurd. Sigh, in this day and age, many people just want to follow the prevailing wind. Just like that incident with the Coach handbag. Public opinion changed three whole times, twisting and turning, ultimately ignoring the original issue.

Lost in his thoughts, he glanced at the drowsy Zhang Yicheng next to him. It seemed that Tan Xin’s command had a significant effect, as Zhang Yicheng was sound asleep. Two snort bubbles formed on his nose, rising and falling with his breath.

If Lin Feng had to face Zhang Yicheng alone, he wasn’t sure how much of a chance he’d have. With a sharp knife, he might stand a chance. Zhang Yicheng’s sticky skin was no joke; breaking through his defenses would be difficult unless Lin Feng had enough strength or something sharp enough.

Thinking of the only thing upstairs that resembled a weapon, the fire axe, Lin Feng realized that using a relatively heavy axe to deal with zombies wasn’t as effective as in games and movies. Reality was different. You had to hack off the head, or it wouldn’t do much. In the first place, to wield that fire axe, one needed immense strength. Moreover, the axe would be hard to retrieve if you missed the head and instead hacked the body.

When Zhu Hanfang chopped off Chen De’s arm, he clearly had experience and prior knowledge of how to do so cleanly.

If one had to say what were the biggest threats a zombie posed when fighting them, it would be their teeth and nails. Just one bite could turn a person into one of them. On top of that, injuries to their bodies didn’t seem to affect zombies much, as they lacked a sense of pain. Also, an axe’s durability was not unlimited; after chopping several zombies, it would become blunt.

Lin Feng’s foresight led everyone to a safe place, so he had to think about what to do next.

Food depletion was only a matter of time.

That day, when he was forced to move into the warehouse, he checked the food storage. There were roughly five boxes of biscuits and four bundles of bottled water. The water issue could be temporarily set aside, as they could boil water to drink if necessary. After all, there was fire and water on the rooftop, and there was still plenty of firewood due to the unfinished construction.

However, the amount of food was a bit worrying. Five boxes might seem like a lot, but don’t forget that there were a total of 21 people with him. If each person ate two packs a day, all the biscuits would last for less than five days! And Zhu Hanfang and several male students didn’t seem to follow the rules, eating three or four packs of biscuits a day. And lest one forget, frog boy over there consumed four packs or more each day.

By this calculation, the seemingly abundant food would only last for three more days at most.

Knock, knock.

A knocking sound brought him back to reality, and Lin Feng walked to the door for a quick look through the peephole.

“Mr. Liu?”

“Come out, let’s talk,” Old Liu gestured for him to come out.

Lin Feng turned around and gently closed the door.

“Sir.”

“You haven’t eaten enough, have you?” Old Liu handed a pack of biscuits to Lin Feng.

Rubbing his stomach, Lin Feng hadn’t eaten enough indeed. Two packs of biscuits weren’t sufficient for a normal person for a whole day, and he wasn’t a normal person now. He just didn’t want to break the rules, which was why he hadn’t asked Old Liu for biscuits like Tan Xin did.

Because of Zhu Hanfang’s and several male students’ behavior of not following the rules, everyone in the class was growing restless. After all, in this era, food was synonymous with life.

Since the rule of two packs per person was just a facade, who would give up the chance to get more for their survival?

Basically, Lin Feng was the proverbial last straw before the camel’s back broke. If even Lin Feng, a key leading figure in the class, were to break the rules now, Old Liu’s rules might as well not exist.

“I’m not hungry,” Lin Feng pushed the biscuits back into Old Liu’s arms, but his stomach growled in protest.

Embarrassed, he still refused to take the biscuits. It wouldn’t be good if someone saw.

“I’m sure you’ve noticed by now,” Old Liu sighed, furrowing his eyebrows, clearly referring to the issue of food.

“Yes, it’s not looking good.”

“Within two days, we need to come up with a solution. My current idea is to establish a search team. Everyone takes turns searching for supplies so that we can sustain ourselves here.”

Old Liu looked at Lin Feng, who had already grown worriedly silent. It wasn’t Lin Feng’s responsibility in the first place. Actually, Lin Feng would probably survive if he ventured out on his own. The large crack in the wall after the loud noise last night was the best evidence of that. But as a teacher, Old Liu couldn’t think of a better solution; letting Lin Feng take the risk was in the best interests of the majority.

“Well, that’s the plan then,” Lin Feng said nothing, gazing at the moon overhead. The moon was still bright, but the ground it illuminated was no longer the same as before.

Old Liu was astonished; he didn’t expect Lin Feng to be so decisive. Zhang Yicheng was also a mutant, but after being bitten, he still ended up like that , proving that mutants were not immune to the disaster.

“Don’t give me that look, sir. It’s not like we have a better solution. Tomorrow at noon, you can announce this to everyone, and I’ll support it.”

“Okay,” Old Liu smiled gratefully.

“By the way, here’s a little gift for you. Consider it a reward for looking out for the students. Remember to get some rest,” Old Liu secretly handed a long object to Lin Feng and then turned to greet the rest of the students as he walked towards the rest area.

Back in the warehouse, Lin Feng locked the door and looked at the item in his hand. It was Mother’s Beef Jerky ( ´▽` )ﾉ. It wasn’t a cheap brand of beef jerky at all. Even before the world went into the gutters, he hesitated to buy it when he wanted to try it.

He tore through the packaging and bit down without hesitation.

Wow! Now that’s beef jerky.

The spiciness slowly spread in his mouth as he chewed slowly. The unique texture of the beef lingered, leaving a pleasant aftertaste.

Amidst his blissful revelry, he suddenly felt a gaze on his back.

“Hmm? Froggy, I mean, Zhang Yicheng, why are you awake?” He turned to find Zhang Yicheng, already standing in a puddle of saliva. Lin Feng glanced at the beef jerky in his hand.

“Sigh, I guess we’re both stuck on the same damned boat. Have some beef jerky,” Lin Feng broke off half of the beef jerky and handed it to Froggy. Froggy took it without hesitation and swallowed it in one bite, without even chewing!

After finishing the beef jerky, Froggy immediately went back to sleep, snoring happily with no signs of gratitude.

“My brother, you’re really… a glutton.”

Wrapping up his pricked-up ears with clothes -as if anyone, especially not one with enhanced hearing, could ever fall asleep next to a giant croaking (snoring) frog – Lin Feng finally fell into a restless sleep.

“Liu Mengqi, I’m warning you, stop touching my tail,” murmured a drowsy Lin Feng in the midst of being woken up by someone rubbing his tail.

“Hmm? Something smells off, Yan Aoxue?” Opening his drowsy eyes, he was surprised to find Yan Aoxue in front of him.

“Lin Feng, it’s time to get up,” she hurriedly withdrew her hand and blushed as she turned around and walked out of the warehouse.

Is this some kind of new fad amongst the girls?

Taking off the clothes covering his head and putting them back on, Lin Feng checked his phone; it was already 11 o’clock.

Zhang Yicheng had already left; he probably went to his little girlfriend, Tan Xin.

Sure enough, when he walked out of the exhibition hall, everyone was huddled in the corner, playing with the things they had on hand. There were various recreational items like Chinese chess, checkers, and chess in the upstairs lounge.

Amidst the chaos outside, playing cards and chess on the relatively safe rooftop offered some relief from the tension and boredom among the students. Without the internet, these youngsters had precious little to occupy themselves.

“You’re finally awake, Lin Feng.”

“Sorry, Mr. Liu. I felt a bit drowsy after the mutation,” Lin Feng casually fibbed. Though he had woken up earlier, he had chosen to stay in bed for a while longer.

“I understand. Since everyone is still up, I plan to announce the matter we discussed last night,” Old Liu glanced at Zhu Hanfang and the others playing poker in groups before turning to Lin Feng.

Lin Feng quickly grasped Old Liu’s intent. His standing in the group was somewhat higher than Zhu Hanfang’s, so as long as more people sided with him, the decision would likely go his way.

“What’s going on?” Lin Mengqi seemed to have just woken up, rubbing her eyes as she approached Lin Feng.

He looked at Liu Mengqi quizzically. In his memory, Liu Mengqi was a model student, always turning off her room light by 10 o’clock at night. She used to visit his room in the mornings and wake him up playfully. How many years had it been since he saw her sleeping in.

“Our teacher will make an announcement soon. Just make sure to catch every word. Also, are you okay? It’s rare for you to be late.” Lin Feng asked.

“I don’t know. I went to bed at exactly 10 last night. Maybe it’s the recent stress,” Liu Mengqi stretched her body and seemed to regain her energy.

Seeing Liu Mengqi gradually returning to her usual self, Lin Feng didn’t think too much about it.

“Well, everyone, please pause what you’re doing. I have something to announce,” Old Liu cleared his throat, capturing everyone’s attention in the exhibition hall.

Except for Zhu Hanfang’s group, who continued playing cards, everyone else turned to face Old Liu.

“So, our food is limited. To ensure our survival, I’ve decided to establish a rule. We’ll divide into groups and scavenge for supplies. This serves two purposes: to enhance our survival skills and to replenish our resources. If no one objects, this decision stands. If you have any questions, feel free to raise them now,” Old Liu concluded, taking out a notebook.

“Sir, do the girls have to participate too?” a girl with freckles on her face raised her hand, clearly reluctant to leave the place.

“Yes, for now, we’ll have a rotation of 3 boys and 2 girls for the search. Girls will be responsible for carrying the collected items,” with an almost equal number of boys and girls in the class—21 students in total, 12 boys and 9 girls—Old Liu’s arrangement seemed relatively fair.

“But we’re scared,” the freckled girl hurriedly said.

“In that case, girls who have cooking skills can stay behind, while the others can join the search,” Old Liu suggested.

“But I don’t know how to cook either.”

Old Liu frowned at the persistent girl.

“Then you can learn from the other girls how to cook. Any other students have questions?” Without giving the freckled girl another chance to speak, Old Liu moved on to address others.

“How long can our food last?” Yan Aoxue pondered for a moment before asking.

“Well…”